A voracious appetite for reading began at an early age for Mark Lewis ’77.

“Our TV was stolen when I was in second grade and it never got replaced. There was a lot of reading in my house. That was our thing,” he said of his upbringing in Nutley, N.J.

That love for learning guided Lewis to F&M and continues to inspire him to give back to the College. A donor since 1987, Lewis is a recent inductee into the John Marshall Society, a growing group of alumni and friends who have made cumulative gifts totaling $100,000 or more. 

“I was raised by a single mom. One of the reasons I give is because I could not have gone to F&M without financial aid,” Lewis said. 

Members of the John Marshall Society have provided significant support to all areas of the College, including endowment, capital projects and the Franklin & Marshall Fund.

“I’m appreciative of all I learned at F&M. That’s why I give.”

— Mark Lewis ’77

“I’m appreciative of all I learned at F&M. That’s why I give. I think it's a worthy cause to support,” Lewis said. 

Now retired, Lewis spent his career as a developer and software consultant. An economics major at F&M, he later earned his master’s degree in economics from Rutgers University before he “stumbled into customer support for software.”

Lewis successfully operated his own business for 13 years before joining a start-up that was acquired by Broadridge, a global financial technology leader.

He draws inspiration from his mother, the late Mary Jane Lewis, who worked as a maid while attending evening classes at Rutgers. She graduated in 1970 and became a psychiatric nurse as Lewis was entering high school.

Lewis held a variety of campus jobs as an F&M student, a testament to his work ethic. 

He worked as an economics tutor, changed linens in residence halls and painted lines on the softball field (“I’m not sure they were accurate,” Lewis joked). He also worked in the Dean of Students office and led campus tours.

“I still remember giving tours to visiting alumni. Those alumni graduated in the 1940s and ’50s. They always marveled at the changes,” Lewis said. 

When he wasn’t tucked away in the reading room of Shadek-Fackenthal Library, Lewis made good use of the College’s athletic facilities as both an athlete and spectator. 

“I spent many hours on the squash court,” he said. “I was not an accomplished squash player but had a lot of fun.”

He has fond memories of cheering for the Diplomats men’s basketball squad, a team poised for a 1979 Final Four run. 

“I spent a lot of time in the gym. If there was a game being played, I watched,” he said. 

Lewis has since swapped the squash racket for a set of race car keys. An avid Formula One race fan, he has completed driving courses in the sport. Lewis also enjoyed a 12-year career in local politics, serving on his local regional high school board of education and town’s board of finance. He was treasurer and then chair of his local Democratic party.

In addition, Lewis enjoys time with his expanded family in Redding, Conn., including his fiancee’s triplets, who just graduated from college. 

Lewis instilled a love for classics in his children with his late wife, Linda Hope Lewis, who passed away in 2011. 

His daughter, Dr. Deirdre Lewis, now a pediatric ICU doctor, was a classics and chemistry major at Vassar College. “She still loves Roman history, just as I did,” Lewis said. His son, Timothy, is a social studies teacher and holds a history degree from Bard College and master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Lewis helped run high school debate in Conn. for roughly 15 years, a role his son now enjoys.

“I give a lot of credit to the liberal arts approach to things,” Lewis said. “Constant learning and flexibility is what you should take away from college.”